Doomsday Book

It feels a little unfair to compare this to Blackout/All Clear because this was written years earlier and Ms. Willis has obviously improved as a writer in the intervening timespan.  However, with their both being part of her "Oxford Time Travel" series, it is hard not to.  Don't get me wrong, Doomsday Book is quite the good book, it is just not as good as Blackout/All Clear.

Instead of World War II, this story takes the time travelling protagonist to England in the Middle Ages.  Also, in this book it continues to follow the characters in the "present" as well as in the past which makes for some interesting parallel dramatic tension (though if you don't understand the difference between the Julian and the Gregorian calendar, the timeline can be a mite bit confusing).

The beginning and the ending of this are both very strong,  but I felt that it slacked off a little in the middle.  Some important things happen, for sure, but I feel that it could have been compressed.  However, the final act is wrought with emotion and a pretty moving expression of what life what probably like in that time period for some people.

Despite the slowness in the middle, I would say that the biggest problem that I had with this book was, since it was written shortly after I was born, the future that the time travelers come from no longer feels very futuristic.  There is surprisingly large number of pages devoted to one of the characters trying to find someone to stay by his phone while he goes out, which kinda broke my suspension of disbelief because he really should have a cell phone.

Like Blackout/All Clear, the strongest part of the book is the characters, heroes and "villains," they are all very well done and you really feel for them.  It would be hard to imagine a time travel story that tried so hard to emphasize the lives of everyday people that wasn't by an author of Connie Willis' caliber.  She is the only author that can consistently bring me to (at least) the verge of tears whenever she tries to.   I think that these characters will live on in my head for a long time.  (Also, there are two little girls in this book who remind me a great deal of an Arya and Sansa Stark if they lived in the actual middle ages rather than Westeros.)

That being said, the time traveler in this book seemed a little less competent at her job then those in Blackout/All Clear (last comparison, I promise), she is much freer with information that she is from the future than the other books' protagonists.  She is also a lot quicker to give up hope than the others.  To be fair, she is less experienced than at least some of the characters in the other books so she has that rationalization going for her.

Overall, I would give this book a 93%.